The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
When the jet transport era was launched in the 1960s, aircraft system complexity and operating procedures necessitated three crew members to operate the aircraft. Advances in aircraft systems and electronics capability enabled the next generation of aircraft designed in the early 1980s to be operated by a crew of two pilots. Advances in aircraft capability enabled the duties of the third crew member to be automated and the remaining tasks were divided amongst two pilots, allowing safe and efficient operation and actually reducing the number of operational crew errors. When the two-crew flight decks were designed, the certification requirements dictated that all controls and indications required to fly the aircraft would be located, and in some cases duplicated, so that the aircraft could be safely operated by a single crew member from either seated position in the event of a crew member becoming incapacitated.
Crew duties have been divided into what is called the “pilot flying” (or “pilot in command”) and “pilot monitoring” (or “pilot not in command”). The pilot flying is responsible for hand flying the aircraft or operation of the aircraft systems used to fly the aircraft during autopilot operation. The pilot monitoring is responsible for communications and cross-checking the pilot flying to make sure mistakes are not inadvertently made and that the aircraft stays on the cleared flight plan. However, with present day commercial transport aircraft most cruise segments are operated with the autopilot engaged. Accordingly, the operational requirements on the crew are much less demanding than during departure, climb, and descent, especially during oceanic and remote cruise flight segments.
In spite of the less demanding operational requirements on the crew, and in order to ensure cross-checking of actions taken or required by the pilot flying, and also to combat fatigue and meet crew duty time regulatory requirements, current long range flights must operate with three or four flight crew members on board. This is so even though only two flight crew members are required to operate the aircraft. The extra “supernumerary” crew members rotate through the pilot flying and pilot monitoring duties, allowing the two primary flight crew members to take rest periods in the passenger cabin or dedicated crew rest facilities in the aircraft. The current method of operating flights with more than two crew members to meet crew duty time limitations significantly increases the cash airplane-related operating costs (CAROC) for an airline.